Question

State the economic importance of lac culture.

Answer 1

Hint: Lac culture is that the scientific management of lac insects also known as laccifer to get a high quantity of quality lac. This involves choice and maintenance of host plants, vaccination of host plants with healthy lac insects, assortment and process of lac and protection against enemies. Lac is that the resinous that is resin like secretion of animal product lac insects.

Complete answer:
The scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects is known as Lac. Commercially the Indian lac insect Laccifer lacca is important.
It is mostly found in the tropical or subtropical regions on the banyan and some other plants. The females are in the form of globular and they live on the twigs in cells of resin that are created by exudations of lac.
Laccifer is a species of insect the second largest family of the animal kingdom in the family Charadriidae, Kerria lacca known as the lac insects.
Their superfamily is Coccoidea, the scale insects. This is the most commercially important lac insect species and is a main source of lac, a resin that can be refined into shellac and other products.
Lac has found many applications :-
> It is used for making toys that are used in plastics.
> It is used in making sealing wax and also used in gramophone records.
> Lac is used by jewellers to fill the hollow part of the gold and also in the silver ornaments .
> The most common by product of lac is nail-paint which is used as cosmetics.
> The fluid of lac dye is used by Indian women to apply on their hand and feet which is commonly known as aalta.
> The shell of lac is used in the preparation of paints.
> Lac is commonly used in making the ink that is used in printers.
> Lac is mostly used as insulating material.

Note: Lac is obtained and commonly extracted from the Indian lac insect Laccifer (Tachardia lacca). The lac insect usually feeds on the sap of the host that is the primary obtained product that is tree. During an unfavourable season when the conditions are not good, lac is secreted as a protective covering around the twigs of trees mostly by the female insects. This lac is extracted from the twigs of the trees and processed to get shell lac. Thus, lac is a resinous substance that is glue like substance.